Portal:Trains/Did you know/August 2009

August 2009

...that Boyce Station, built in 1900 on the Chartiers Branch in Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, housed not only the rail operations but also a post office and general store for the small community it served?

One of the level crossings on the Taurachbahn in 2002

...that the level crossings used by the Taurachbahn in Austria on the federal highway at Mariapfarr station and the local highway at Lintsching stop are secured by barriers, which must be manually closed and opened by the train crew?
...that when the Churnet Valley Railway in Staffordshire, Great Britain, was extended to Froghall, resignalling work began at Consall railway station to allow two-train operation on the line and a signal box was installed there, a location that hadn't had a signal box before the line became a heritage railway?

Cochrane station in 2006

...that Cochrane railway station in Northern Ontario, Canada, is the northernmost stop for Northlander trains of Ontario Northland and southernmost stop for Polar Bear Express trains?

...that the three diesel-electric locomotives used by the Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railroad in southern Illinois are painted in liveries using the colors of the local high schools?

...that SNCF's BB 75000 class of diesel-electric locomotives employ internal electrical components similar to those found in the Siemens 'EuroSprinter' made for ÖBB, while the bodyshell, bogies and other equipment are of the Prima type made by Alstom?

...that despite the rapidly growing use of roads, rail transport in Sudan has remained of paramount importance to the country because of its ability to move at lower cost the large volume of agricultural exports and to transport inland the increasing imports of heavy capital equipment and construction materials for development, such as requirements for oil exploration and drilling operations?

Chipping Norton railway station in the early 1900s

...that in 1875 construction of the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway between Chipping Norton and Kings Sutton began at Chipping Norton railway station, including a new bridge to take the new line under the Worcester Road, although it would be twelve years before the first train passed under it?

...that the Colorado and Southern Railway, formed in 1898 as the merger of several smaller railroads connecting Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, became a subsidiary of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1908 and operated as a separate railroad until the Burlington Northern Railroad merger in 1981?

...that many of the lines that make up rail transport in Peru owe their origins to contracts granted to Henry Meiggs in the 1860s, but the mountainous nature of Peru made expansion slow and much of the surviving mileage is of twentieth-century origin?

...that most of the 3,991 kilometres (2,480 mi) of rail transport in Burma, now operated by Myanmar Railways, was built in the late 1800s with lines designed to eventually connect to China's Yunan Province from the port city of Rangoon?

...that a memorial replica of Bramhope Tunnel's north portal, a railway tunnel in West Yorkshire that is still used by Northern Rail, was erected in Otley churchyard to commemorate the lives of the 24 men who died during the tunnel's construction in the 1840s?

Bush Terminal as seen before 1920

...that Bush Terminal, a large and historic complex of piers, docks, warehouses, factories and rail sidings on 200 acres (810,000 m²) on the waterfront of Brooklyn, New York City, was the first intermodal shipping, warehousing and manufacturing center and rail-marine terminal facility of its kind in New York?

Examples of rail buckling in extreme heat conditions

...that rail stressing is a continuous welded rail installation technique developed in the 1960s to avert rail track problems such as tensile stress in extreme cold that could cause the rail to fracture or compressive stress in extreme heat that could cause the rail to buckle?

A class 333 locomotive pulling a passenger train in 1988

...that one of the first Class 333 diesel electric locomotives operated by RENFE pulled the legendary express train from Barcelona to La Coruna / Vigo via Roda de Barà, la Plana- Picamoixons and the station of Miranda de Ebro?

...that after its closure in 1965, Cheddleton railway station in Staffordshire saw the establishment of a railway preservation base at the station due to a campaign by local residents, spearheaded by Norman Hancock, who in May 1974 as a mark of protest parked his Jaguar car on the level crossing where the railway line meets Basford Bridge Lane in Cheddleton?
...that Barmouth station in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, a stop on the Pennsylvania Railroad's Schuylkill Branch, later a part of SEPTA's R6 Cynwyd line, and now dismantled as part of the Cynwyd Heritage rail trail, was situated between West Laurel Hill Cemetery and Westminster Cemetery?

...that because the majority of the Ontario Southern Railway's 1.5-mile (2.4 km) long monorail line connecting the amusement park at Crystal Beach, Ontario, and the Grand Trunk Railway station at Ridgeway was elevated 10 to 30 feet (3 to 9 meters) on wooden posts, it was sometimes referred to as the "Peg-Leg Railway"?

...that airport rail links provide passenger rail transport from an airport to a nearby city via mainline- or commuter trains, rapid transit, people mover or light rail, many with direct links operating straight to the airport terminal, while other systems require an intermediate use of people mover or shuttle bus?

...that according to Strategic Rail Authority figures, Buckenham railway station in the English county of Norfolk is one of the least-used stations in the country, with 13 entries and 16 exits for the year 2005/06, and for 2006/07 this had declined further to 22 total entries and exits?

Streetcars riding an incline in Cincinnati in 1904

...that in the early part of the 20th century, Cincinnati streetcars used funicular systems to raise and lower the streetcars over four inclines surrounding the city that allowed the streetcars to directly connect to the city's suburbs?

The Maputo Railway Station, built between 1913 and 1916

...that although direct management has been outsourced, the three railway lines and their connected ports in Mozambique are overseen by a parastatal authority known as Mozambique Ports and Railways?

A MotoRail vehicle at the front of the New South Wales Public Transport Commission's Gold Coast Motorail Express

...that many railway systems around the world have implemented Motorail services in which passengers are carried in normal passenger cars or in sleeping cars on longer journeys, while their automobiles are loaded into autoracks, car carriers, or flatcars to make the journey with them?

...that Blunsdon was one of the last railway sations to be opened by the Midland and South Western Junction Railway in 1895 on a railway that had opened in 1883, then one of the first stations on the route to be closed, and is now used as the headquarters of the Swindon and Cricklade Railway, a heritage railway connecting its namesake towns?

...that EMD's SD75I locomotive model is basically the same as the EMD SD75M, with 4,300 horsepower (3,200 kW), HTCR-II radial trucks and a 72 feet 4 inches (22.05 m) frame, but the locomotive's cab is fully isolated from the frame that dampens vibration and cuts down on noise in the cab?
...that the two lines of Monterrey Metro, the newest of Mexico's metro systems, transported approximately 88.3 million passengers in 2008 and in the first quarter of 2009, following the extension of Line 2, they carried an average daily passenger load of 328,000 passengers?

...that the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway founded in 1908 in India by merging the Madras Railway and the Southern Mahratta Railway, was merged with the South Indian Railway and the Mysore State Railway in 1951 to form the Southern Railway, one of the 16 zones of the Indian Railways?

...that the original location for Cholsey railway station in Oxfordshire, England, was situated several hundred yards further up the former Great Western Railway mainline than the present location which was opened in 1892?

...that the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway stations in Springville and Orchard Park, New York, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 and 2007, respectively?

...that the former Victorian Railways, the state railway authority in Victoria, Australia, built a number of experimental 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge narrow gauge lines around the beginning of the 20th century, and although all were closed by the early 1960s, parts of two have been reopened as heritage railways?
...that when it was opened in 1890 by the Compagnie Générale Française de Tramways, the Funiculaire du Havre connecting Le Havre and the Côte Sainte-Marie, France, was operated with unreliable steam coaches until the line was electrified and recabled in 1911?